Prime Minister's Papers Chris Adam Tue, Dec 13, 2016 at 2:26 PM To:  Ref: 2016/6442-1   Dear Mr Taylor   My colleagues in Head Office are providing advice to the Ministerial and Secretariat Services section of the Department of Internal Affairs, who are in turn supporting  the Prime Minister’s office staff about the disposal of the Right Honourable John Key’s papers.   As you will be aware the Ministers (including the Prime Minister) are part of the Executive branch of Government and are therefore public offices under the Public Records Act 2005. The Act applies when Ministers are operating in their official capacities as Ministers of the Crown. Records that are not public records as defined by the Act include records created or received by the Prime Minister in his role as a parliamentary or political party leader; records created or received as a private individual; personal text messages and messages not related to the Prime Minister’s official capacity, even though they may have been created or received on Ministerial phones and devices; information or data held by private persons or organisations.   The Prime Minister’s office staff will sentence those public records covered by existing disposal authorities developed by Archives New Zealand and leave the remainder to be appraised for the Chief Archivist’s approval. Currently the most relevant disposal schedule is being updated so the amount of records needing to be separately appraised in this case may be quite significant.   In terms of where the records will end up, those deemed to be of permanent value will transferred to an Archives New Zealand repository.   I’m not sure if this is the sort of information you were seeking but I am happy to discuss the matter if you have further queries.   Regards     Chris Adam | Regional Archivist Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kawanatanga Christchurch Regional Office Direct Dial: +64 3 371 6666 | Mobile: +64 21 799 431 |  www.archives.govt.nz 90 Peterborough Street, Christchurch 8013 | PO Box 642, Christchurch 8140, New Zealand Archives New Zealand is part of the Department of Internal Affairs